Is Netflix’s company culture of fear real? What happened when you were fired?

New / Eng
ryujehong

Go to company page New Eng

ryujehong
Nov 28, 2017 51 Comments

A little bit of my background, I’m a software engineer with less than 4 years of work experience. I ask this question because recently I got a senior software engineer offer from Netflix but I don’t know if I should take it. I heard that they pay really really well but they also fire people like crazy, like 2 mistakes and you’re out. Most of the engineers on the team I interviewed have over 8 years of experience, will I be considered not an A+ player compared to them? In Netflix’s culture deck they say that they fire adequate employees right away and only keep superstar engineers.

My major concern: Job security is very important to me not because I have a family to raise but because I’m on H1B work visa, which means if I got fired I would no longer be able to stay in US unless I could get another employer to sponsor my visa within a month. I’m basically happy with my salary at my current job and I don’t want to ruin my career just because I take the bad money from an unstable job. Another thing is that under such pressure and fear of losing job, will one grow as an engineer? I always think that engineers learn a lot from mistakes, if one is not allowed to make any mistake, how do engineers at Netflix grow?

Since Blind is an (to some extent) anonymous society, can someone tell us about how it really feels like to work at Netflix? Is the culture of fear real? Is the pay really worth the workload?

And to those who got fired by Netflix, how long did you stay there before you got fired? And what happened before you were shown the door? Is real that Netflix is basically zero-tolerant to mistakes?

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TOP 51 Comments
  • New / Eng
    xofulb

    New Eng

    PRE
    VMware, Brocade Communications, Nokia
    BIO
    Take your coding puzzles and shove it up your ***
    xofulb
    Tough choice mate, money or mental peace? I would choose latter 8 out of 10 times.
    Nov 28, 2017 12
    • Netflix
      Johnny5

      Go to company page Netflix

      Johnny5
      I’ve been around for many years and half of my team is at least 3 years in. Don’t believe what you read from disgruntled employees. Very few I have ever met regret joining Netflix.
      Dec 5, 2017
    • New / Eng
      ryujehong

      Go to company page New Eng

      ryujehong
      OP
      @Johnny5 Hi thanks for your comment! At this point of time I think I’m no longer too worried about Netflix the company itself but more about my own skills and chances of meeting expectations there.
      Dec 5, 2017
  • Amazon
    ❤️💚💙💛💜

    Go to company page Amazon

    ❤️💚💙💛💜
    I would not take the risk of getting fired on H1b.

    Seek a company where you can stay for at least a decade, if you plan on getting the green card.
    Nov 28, 2017 1
    • New / Eng
      ryujehong

      Go to company page New Eng

      ryujehong
      OP
      I think you can still change job while waiting for green card as long as there’s no big gap between two jobs.
      Nov 28, 2017
  • Microsoft / Eng
    Ayrr11

    Go to company page Microsoft Eng

    Ayrr11
    What is Netfilx?
    Nov 28, 2017 2
    • New / Eng
      xofulb

      New Eng

      PRE
      VMware, Brocade Communications, Nokia
      BIO
      Take your coding puzzles and shove it up your ***
      xofulb
      What Microsoft cannot be.
      Nov 28, 2017
    • New / Eng
      ryujehong

      Go to company page New Eng

      ryujehong
      OP
      Easy guys, both MS and Netflix are great company with many exciting opportunities. I post here to brainstorm with people on a career decision, not to belittle some company
      Nov 28, 2017
  • Apple / Eng
    ProjPurple

    Go to company page Apple Eng

    ProjPurple
    It depends on the person but I perform considerably poorly if I always have to worry about performance ; I tend to perform my best work when I am stress free and I excited about what I am working on. Secondly I am not even sure what sometimes your best work is - often stuff that I feel is relatively trivial can have huge impact and stuff that I have sweated and worked hard upon relatively less - much like the real world , where not everything is meritrocratic. Netflix’s culture deck would make me half the engineer I am and I have worked at some pretty stressful places ( still working at one ).
    Nov 28, 2017 0
  • OP, it's not as cutthroat as you think it is. PM me with what team you'd be joining and I can give you any insights I have.
    Nov 28, 2017 0